OVERVIEW: The Henry Luce Foundation offers support in the arts through their American Art Program, which focuses primarily on American fine and decorative art and lends much of its support to scholarly pursuits and exhibitions within this area. Through this branch of the organization they support exhibitions, publications and research that "emphasize an aesthetic approach to American art, specifically scholarly study of painting, sculpture, prints, drawings, decorative arts, photography, and architecture."

IP TAKE: The Henry Luce Foundation is concerned with the support of more traditional forms of American art, so avant-garde organizations and individuals should look elsewhere for funds.

The Luce Fund In American Art supports "scholarly special exhibitions and their related publications that contribute significantly to the study of American art." The most important criteria they use for evaluating proposals are intellectual merit and "potential contribution to scholarship," as well as a "demonstrable impact of the artist or subject" in the related field. Grant amounts can vary, but average from $15,000 to upwards of $200,000. Letters of Inquiry are required before a proposal can be submitted and are due each year on April 1. If the Foundation expresses interest in the project, deadlines for proposals are in mid-June of each year.

The Responsive Grants & American Art Renewal Fund casts its focus on the support of projects that "address the prevailing needs of the American art field and are crucial to its development." This includes permanent collection reinstallations, digitization of collections, and archives of American art material. Grants range from $30,000 to $200,000 for organizations with budgets between $500,000 to $65 million. Letters of Inquiry are accepted year round and should be no more than two pages.

An example of some recent grant recipients include $15,000 to the Association of Art Museum Curators, $75,000 to the Shelburne Museum in Vermont, $5,000 to Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, NY, $40,000 to the Romare Bearden Foundation for archive preservation, and $40,000 to the University of Iowa Museum of Art to help digitize their American art collection.